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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484807">Necessary Evil</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha Sylvain Jose Gautier, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Extremely Dubious Consent, FE3H Kinkmeme, Fluff and Angst, Fuck Or Die, Kinda, Knotting, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Omega Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Omega Verse, References to Knotting, Sappy Ending, no beta we die like Glenn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:41:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484807</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“This is bad,” Felix mutters blandly.</p><p>“Yeah.”	</p><p>“If they decided to come back with reinforcements, his scent will lead them right to us, and we’ll be as good as dead.”</p><p>“I know.” A lump forms in Sylvain’s stomach. They were going to rape Lorenz. If they decided to come after them again and outnumbered them, they would find more than just an omega in heat; they would find another omega who just killed one of their cronies. Sylvain tightens his grip on his mate.</p><p>“We can’t stay here.”</p><p>“What choice do we have?” he sighs, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no way we can get him back like this.”</p><p>Felix’s face goes hard, eyes pained but jaw set in a hard line. “Sylvain.” It’s soft, barely over a whisper. “You have to break his heat.”<br/>____</p><p>Fill for FE3H Kinkmeme</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Sylvain Jose Gautier/Lorenz Hellman Gloucester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Necessary Evil</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt:</p><p>Pre-ts ABOverse where Sylvain is an alpha and Felix and Lorenz are omegas.</p><p>Sylvain and Felix are in a relationship and dedicated to each other, Sylvain helping Felix through his heats whenever he gets them. Lorenz is single and an omega who pretends not to be with the help of suppressants. He hides his second sex because of the lower status of omegas in the Leicester Alliance (up to you if Faerghus is the same or Felix is open about being omega). One day the Blue Lions head out on a mission and Lorenz is asked to come along to back up Sylvain as a second Dark Knight. But during battle, one of the convoy wagons gets destroyed and Lorenz realizes it was the one with his belongings. Including his precious box of suppressants. He hopes to wait it out until they get back but soon goes into pre-heat and panics. He tries to head back alone but the heat comes on fast and soon he can’t ride anymore. Things get worse when more bandits show up. A virgin omega in heat is so tempting and Lorenz is absolutely about to be gang raped and probably get his throat slit afterwards...only for Sylvain and Felix to show up and drive the bandits away. Sylvain had recognized the signs of a distressed omega in pre-heat and Felix tagged along when he went after him.</p><p>But they’re still in danger so long as Lorenz is still in heat and Sylvain can only think of one way to help: breed him and break it. So there’s the meat of this prompt. I’d just love to see the three of them trying to get through this. Felix has to watch his beloved breed another omega, Sylvain has to do the breeding with someone other than his Felix and Lorenz suddenly has to lose his virginity to an alpha he barely tolerates who happens to already be in a relationship. Just gimme all that good angst and drama!</p><p>+++If Sylvain is terrified he’ll sire a pup thanks to all his hang ups about having children.<br/>++Felix knowing Sylvain is just doing what he has to, but still feeling like he’s being slowly gutted as is happens. ++++If he cries.<br/>+++If they do it in a forest or a cave, somewhere that’s only semi hidden.<br/>++If heat-addled!Lorenz both calls Sylvain “Claude” at one point and then later sobs about how much he loves him. +++If it’s ambiguous who Lorenz thinks he’s actually talking to and super++++If Felix overhears the love part.<br/>++++If Sylvix guys come out of it all stronger than ever in their relationship. Because the only thing better than angst is angst with a happy ending! 👍<br/>+++Male anatomy and alphas knotting please!<br/>____</p><p>This is my first time writing A/B/O, so I hope it's not too terrible. Hope you like it, OP.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To put it simply, things were very, very bad. When the professor invited Lorenz to join them for a practice battle in Kingdom territory, he’d been eager to join. Any chance to learn from the skilled-yet-enigmatic former mercenary was an opportunity he would jump on, and not only for the experience. He would take the excuse to get away from Claude. The carefree alpha with his infuriating banter, childish pranks, and boundless secrets was a perpetual thorn in Lorenz’s side.</p><p>Things had quickly gone downhill when they passed through bandit-infested territory. A surprise attack, while quickly fended off, had resulted in one of their caravan wagons being torched. The wagon, as it had turned out, happened to be the very one where Lorenz’s personal possessions were stored. Of course, he was perfectly capable of surviving without most of the things he’d brought along, and material possessions could be replaced, but there was a box tucked deep in his bag that had been of grave importance.</p><p>His suppressants.</p><p>Lorenz’s diligence in hiding his… unfortunate condition was very important to his father, one of the many charges he’d laid on his son’s shoulders when the boy set off for Garreg Mach. He could not risk his father’s reputation, his own reputation as the heir of House Gloucester. The suppressants kept him from going into his heat, from attracting the attention of the alphas around him who would undermine his position and authority as a noble.</p><p>It was his most secret shame. To think, even the baseborn Raphael and the Duscurain vassal of Prince Dimitri were alphas. Meanwhile, he was no better than Ignatz or Ashe. Though, he supposed it was a fair concession that he was among decent enough company. Fraldarius and von Aegir seemed to be very open about their status, making no secret of hiding away in their rooms to weather their heats in the comfort of their nests and walking around unabashedly with the scent of an alpha clinging to them.</p><p>Lorenz could have no such luxury.</p><p>He’d hope – nay, prayed – that the goddess would be kind and his heat would hold off a couple days until they’d finished their assignment and returned to the monastery where he could feign illness for a few days and procure more suppressants to ensure the safety of his secret.</p><p>Of course, things couldn’t go quite so smoothly, as the morning after the attack, Lorenz wakes in a cold sweat, skin burning nearly as intensely as the arousal in his belly. Gautier and Fraldarius, who he’d been sharing a tent with, are already gone, and he is mercifully alone. It is nothing short of a miracle that there is enough of the suppressant left in his system from his dose the day before that the overwhelming scent of heat has yet to attract unwanted attention. It would have been disastrous had they noticed. Of course, the two of them were always so wrapped up in each other, as a newly mated pair was wont to be, that perhaps they might not have noticed anyway.</p><p>Lorenz groans as he dresses himself, smalls soaked through with sweat and no insignificant amount of slick (he buries them deep in his bag with the rest of his soiled clothes, hoping the sweat and grime from their travel will mask the scent well enough). His legs tremble under him, and he longs to do nothing but curl up in safe, warm bundle of blankets and sleep away the white-hot arousal that wracks through him.</p><p>He’s never had a heat this bad before, he knows it immediately. That is the unfortunate side effect of the suppressants. If one relies on them for too long, the heat that follows their use runs the risk of an increased intensity as the body struggles to return to its normal function. And Lorenz hasn’t had a heat since his last one before coming to the monastery nearly six moons before. He’d hoped to be able to deal with the ramifications after returning home.</p><p>Not in an encampment nearly two days away from the nearest place he can hide himself away, surrounded by other nobles who can take advantage of his closely guarded secret.</p><p>It takes almost more effort than he can manage to crawl out of his tent and seek out the professor. Soldiers and Blue Lion students alike mill around, enjoying a meager breakfast of left over stew from the night before, reheated on a low fire. No one gives him a second glance, but every whiff of alpha scent that passes him by makes his stomach tighten almost painfully.</p><p>The professor dines alongside Prince Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain, and Dedue, the five of them chatting nonchalantly. Sylvain is the first to notice Lorenz’s approach, smiling crookedly up at him. The gesture is just as empty as his red head. “Ah, Lorenz, finally decided to wake up, huh?”</p><p>Lorenz ignores him.</p><p>“Professor,” he manages, voice strained. The smell of alphas is almost overwhelming, and it is all Lorenz can to do keep a straight facade. He fakes a cough to cover the cracking in his voice. “I apologize, but I find I’m feeling rather ill this morning.” The professor cocks her head to the side, eyes wide and blank, but she says nothing. “I’m afraid I would only hinder you and your class, so I would like your permission to return to the monastery.”</p><p>He can feel eyes on him, and it makes his skin burn brighter. Dimitri and Dedue watch with some amount of polite sympathy, and Felix with mute apathy, but it’s Sylvain whose eyes bore into him intently. A bead of sweat trickles down his neck, and Lorenz’s fingers knot into the fabric of his trousers, already damp. He shifts on his feet; there’s no way they can’t smell him, he is sure.</p><p>But no one makes any comment, and the professor gives her blessing. Lorenz makes quick work of saddling his steed, despite his trembling hands and the tight coils of heat inside him. All the while, he can feel the heavy gaze of Sylvain tracking his every movement. He knows, Lorenz is almost certain. But that will be a problem for later, once he has a clearer head on his shoulders.</p><p>Instead, he heads out of camp as discreetly as possible, back toward the monastery.</p><p>He loses track of how long he’s been traveling. Or rather, his head begins to fill with a dizzying haze that clouds his senses, and he relies on his horse’s sense of direction to get him back safely. He’s slumped forward on his saddle, barely able to string a coherent thought together when he notices that his horse has come to a stop, clopping his hooves nervously in the dirt. Lorenz blinks up, bleary and unfocused, struggling to realize what the problem is when he finally smells it. The musky scent of alphas reaches him, swirls around him so strongly it’s almost intoxicating.</p><p>All he can do is blink slowly as he takes in the four men that surround him, two to the front, two to the back, swords in hand and grinning like jackals. “What do we have here?” one of them calls. “What’s a pretty little bitch in heat doing out here all alone?”</p><p>Lorenz tries to sit up straight, tries to feign the strength and poise of a noble of his station. “Allow me to pass,” he commands, voice weak and raspy despite his best efforts. “I have nothing of value to offer you.”</p><p>They circle around him, edging closer like carrion birds toward a morsel of rotted roadkill. “Nothing of value, huh?” the man laughs. “I’m sure your pussy’s not <em>that </em>bad.” A chorus of raucous laughter erupts despite his words being objectively unfunny.</p><p>Fear creeps through Lorenz’s veins like splinters of ice. “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?” he growls, grasping blindly for his lance; his fingers close around air again and again, earning further laughter from the men.</p><p>“Aw, what’s the matter, bitch?” one of the other men taunts. Rough hands grab him around the middle and he can’t even fight back as he’s dragged down from the saddle. Spooked, his horse bolts into the woods.</p><p>He’s suddenly encompassed by heat and musk and groping hands, tugging at his hair and pulling his legs apart. His struggles are easily quelled, and he whines low in his throat. “Don’t worry,” one of them coos in his ear, breath hot on his feverish skin, “you’ll feel better once you’ve had my knot, slut.”</p><p>“No,” he whimpers. It’s pathetic. He is Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. This isn’t supposed to be happening to him. Tears well in the corners of his eyes as he feels hands tugging at his pants. “Please, stop.”</p><p>A strangled cry rings out from somewhere near him, followed by a dull thud, and Lorenz is dropped unceremoniously to the ground, the wind knocked from him. Through teary, unfocused eyes, he sees the raven hair of Felix standing above him, his sword gleaming in the sunlight, dripping with the fresh blood of one of the bandits who now lays crumpled on the ground.</p><p>Relief crashes over Lorenz like a wave. The tears spill from his eyes, and the world goes black.</p><p> </p><p>~OoO~</p><p> </p><p>“But how can you be sure?” Felix asks for the fifth time. His arms are tight around Sylvain’s waist as they gallop back toward the monastery, along the road Lorenz would have taken. His warmth and smell is a comfort, soft despite his harsh edges. “I couldn’t smell anything on him but sweat.”</p><p>“I know,” Sylvain sighs. “It’s just… his body language. Remember that time we went camping a few years ago, and you started going into heat?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“He reminded me of that.” It was hard to explain, the subtle signs of distress that radiate off of omegas when they’re about to go into heat without the comfort of a nest nearby, when they don’t have a safe place to curl up while they’re most vulnerable. Felix might not have noticed because he likes to think he’s never vulnerable, but Sylvain knows better.</p><p>“I’ve never known him to go into a heat before,” Felix notes.</p><p>“True,” he allows, “but they’re more stuck up about omegas in the Alliance. I doubt he would be the first noble that’s taken suppressants to try and pass themselves off as a beta.”</p><p>“How would you know?”</p><p>“Claude was telling me about it a couple weeks ago.”</p><p>“Alright,” Felix huffs, “if you’re so smart, how come he’s going into heat <em>now</em> if he’s on suppressants?” Despite the biting words, he can feel the playful challenge in Felix’s voice and can’t help but feel the almost aching adoration swell in his chest.</p><p>“The wagon that got torched yesterday had his stuff on in. If his suppressants were there, they got torched too.” Felix didn’t answer, and for a moment, Sylvain thought he was pouting about Sylvain beating his little challenge until he felt Felix stiffen behind him. “What?”</p><p>“Can’t you smell it?”</p><p>Sylvain tilts his head, testing the air. He’s not sure how he didn’t smell it sooner, the overwhelming scent of an omega in heat like a torch-lit path leading straight to Lorenz. If there was any doubt about it before, it’s gone. But more than that, Sylvain can smell the dark, musky scent of other alphas, almost overpowered by Lorenz’s scent.</p><p>“Fuck,” they mutter in tandem, and Sylvain urges his horse to go faster.</p><p>It’s only a few minutes before they come across the commotion, the bright purple hair of Lorenz almost hidden in the cluster of bodies that swarm him, tearing at his clothes like wild animals. Felix jumps from the horse before Sylvain can say anything, before he can process what he’s seeing.</p><p>His mate is a blur as he streaks silently toward the distracted bandits, cutting one of them down with a single, precise stab through the chest. And like that, the others curse and scatter like rats, growling low in their throats. Lorenz collapses to the ground, seeming to have passed out.</p><p>Sylvain joins Felix by Lorenz, checking over the Alliance noble. He seems unharmed, thankfully; they arrived just in the nick of time. Felix helps him drag the fresh corpse of the bandit off the road, leaving behind a muddy pool of blood as the only evidence of his death. His scummy friends would be back, Sylvain was sure.</p><p>And that is what scares him. Any alpha would be able to smell him a mile away – an exaggeration, of course, but still – and if those four were just a small part of a bigger band, things could go bad quickly. And in his state, there was no way they were getting Lorenz back to the monastery.</p><p>“Help me get him off the road,” Sylvain sighs, stooping to pick up their still unconscious classmate. He takes one arm and Felix, the other. Their horse follows obediently as they make their way into the woods that line the road. Lorenz’s horse trots up to them a while later, nervous from the fight before but comforted by their presence.</p><p>They manage to find a small cave formed by a crop of rocks, and they set out a bedroll to lay Lorenz on. Felix ties the horses to a nearby tree. The two of them sit at the mouth of the cave, Felix curled up against his side, face a stony mask.</p><p>“This is bad,” Felix mutters blandly.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“If they decide to come back with reinforcements, his scent will lead them right to us, and we’ll be as good as dead.”</p><p>“I know.” A lump forms in Sylvain’s stomach. They were going to rape Lorenz. If they decided to come after them again and outnumbered them, they would find more than just an omega in heat; they would find another omega who just killed one of their cronies. Sylvain tightens his grip on his mate.</p><p>“We can’t stay here.”</p><p>“What choice do we have?” he sighs, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no way we can get him back like this.”</p><p>Felix’s face goes hard, eyes pained but jaw set in a hard line. “Sylvain.” It’s soft, barely over a whisper. “You have to break his heat.”</p><p>Ice pours through Sylvain’s chest, and he feels like he can’t breathe. It’s been two moons since they mated, and he’d promised Felix long before that, back when they first started courting, that he was the only omega for him. <em>And he meant it</em>. Meant it more than he’s ever meant anything in his life. Meant it so much that he would risk incurring his father’s wrath if it meant he could stay by Felix’s side as long as they lived.</p><p>“I… I can’t-” he sputters. “Felix, I won’t do that to you.”</p><p>Felix, in a surprising moment of tenderness, nuzzles against his neck. “I’m telling you to,” he whispers. “If you don’t we’re as good as dead. I would rather see you fuck him than see you die.” A pained whine claws out of Sylvain’s chest as he holds Felix. His Felix. His love. “Please.”</p><p>And it hurts so much, but he presses a kiss to Felix’s brow. “I’m sorry, Fe.”</p><p>“I know. Go.”</p><p>He manages to wrench himself from Felix’s side. His feet feel like lead as he goes to Lorenz in the cave. The smell of heat is so thick here, cloyingly sweet and arousing. Despite himself – and probably for the best, given what needs to happen – his pants grow tight, and he kneels next to the purple haired omega.</p><p>Lorenz has woken… kinda. He whines low in his throat, curled around himself. He’s drenched with sweat and his trousers are soaked with slick. “Cl-Claude?” he mutters, dazed and incoherent. His hands scramble for him.</p><p>“Shh,” Sylvain coos through the lump in his throat. “It’s going to be okay.” He runs a hand down Lorenz’s side, trying to sooth him. A shudder wracks his frame. “I’m sorry, Lorenz, but I have to break your heat.”</p><p>Lorenz nods desperately, struggling to turn under the thick cover of the bedroll, to present himself to Sylvain. “Please, Claude.” And, fuck, that makes it all the worse. He doesn’t even know he’s begging to fuck him.</p><p>Sylvain urges Lorenz to his knees, though his legs tremble. His face is still pressed into the bedroll, arms too weak to hold himself up. He settles between the omega’s legs, feeling all sorts of gross and scummy inside as he gently peels down Lorenz’s drenched trousers and smalls. Lorenz shivers as the cold air hits his dripping hole.</p><p>Swallowing hard and sparing a last glance toward Felix – his mate still sits rigid at the mouth of the cave, back toward them – Sylvain eases a finger inside him. Lorenz <em>wails</em>, grinding back against him. The omega is hard and leaking, his cock flushed red, shiny with the slick that’s dripping down from his hole.</p><p>And, flames, he’s so tight around Sylvain’s single finger, like Felix had been their first time. Great. Not only is he fucking an omega in heat who’s so out of it he has no clue who’s fingering him open, but he’s fucking a <em>virgin</em> omega. A chorus of broken <em>yes</em>es fall from his lips as Sylvain gently stretches him until his hole is pliant and ready for his cock.</p><p>A nagging thought claws to the forefront of his mind. He’s about to breed an omega in heat, the time he’s most fertile. It’s a concern he hasn’t had to worry about for a while; Felix takes an herbal mixture that keeps Sylvain’s seed from taking root in his womb. A virgin omega who’s spent the better part of a year taking suppressants to pass as a beta wouldn’t be doing that. Fuck. What if… what if Sylvain’s luck has run out? What if Lorenz conceives, and Sylvain sires pups with an omega who’s not his mate?</p><p>No. No, he can’t let himself think about that. Not right now. If they got back to the monastery soon enough, Manuela could do something about it. He knows that. <em>Don’t panic. Now’s not the time for your fucking hangups, Sylvain</em>. For some reason, his inner monologue sounds a lot like Felix.</p><p>With trembling fingers, Sylvain frees his hard length – it’s difficult to not be aroused when so close to an omega in heat, no matter how gross he feels about it. He uses the slick on his fingers to coat the shaft, coaxing himself to full hardness.</p><p>Gripping Lorenz’s hips to keep them in place, he gently presses inside, earning a broken moan of pleasure that boarders on a sob. Fuck. He’s so fucking tight, so hot and wet around him. He rolls his hips slowly, doing the bare minimum to pleasure them both. He bites his lip, holding in involuntary sounds that he doesn’t want to subject Felix to as he softly takes Lorenz.</p><p> </p><p>~OoO~</p><p> </p><p>Felix tries not to hear the moans and whines that Lorenz makes, every unintelligible babble that spills like water from his lips. Tries not to hear the smack of flesh on flesh. Tries not to hear the lewd, wet sounds of his mate fucking another omega. He could leave, he could walk far enough away that he can’t hear, but somehow, he thinks that would be worse.</p><p>He hugs his knees against his chest as he glares out at the still forest. Every second, every hitched breath and pleasured groan stabs Felix like a knife. He told Sylvain to do it. It was practical, a decision made in the interest of survival.</p><p>It was so, <em>so</em> goddess-damned painful.</p><p>Sylvain was his. <em>His</em>. His best friend, his love, his mate. What a fucked up turn of events, having to be there while his alpha fucked another omega just so they wouldn’t end up raped and murdered by bandits. The horrible absurdity of it festered in Felix’s chest. The unfairness of it brought tears to his eyes that he stubbornly blinked away.</p><p>“Yes!” Lorenz cries particularly loudly. “Oh, Cl- yes…” He can hear Lorenz sobbing, hiccuping. “I love you.” Felix feels numb. “Love you so much. Oooh.” Words fade into a strangled scream as he cums on Sylvain’s knot.</p><p>Felix cries silently. The sounds of sex falter into labored breathing, both spent. He dares a glance over his shoulder. Sylvain’s still buried in Lorenz, his knot keeping them locked together. He stares down forlornly, hands at his side. It’s a far cry from the soft touches and lazy kisses the redhead is partial to after he knots Felix.</p><p>Sylvain glances over, and their eyes meet. Sylvain’s eyes, big and brown and beautiful, are full of pain and loathing. It’s a look Felix knows all too well, when his mate gets in a spiral of negativity that Felix has to use care to coax him out of with soft, tender words and gentle kisses and more patience than he usually has.</p><p>He’s sure the look is reflected in his own eyes.</p><p>They look away.</p><p> </p><p>~OoO~<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>The journey back to the monastery is an uncomfortable one. None of them talk. They set off as soon as Lorenz returned to his senses, face red with shame and shattered pride. Though he’s barely fit to ride a horse, despite being past the worst of his heat, he manages alone. Felix has his arms wrapped possessively around Sylvain.</p><p>Lorenz tries not to look at either of them. He knows the mess he’s caused. The feeling of being violated curdles in his stomach, though he understands the dire situation that he’d placed them in. It was a necessary evil. Rationally, he knows that. But his brain cares very little about rationality in that moment, and is instead too hung up on the fact that Sylvain Gautier took his virginity while he was too disoriented by his heat to realize what was happening. Though, he would rather it was Sylvain as opposed to the group of thugs who’d planned to rape and likely leave him for dead on the side of the road.</p><p>Back at the monastery, they part ways, the two of them headed back toward the dorms – probably to have a long conversation about what had happened – while Lorenz heads to see professor Manuela. Sylvain offers only five words in farewell: “You should talk to him.” Manuela presses for no details as he requests heat suppressants and a mixture that will prevent pregnancy after one has had sex. With his medicine tucked securely in his pocket, he heads back to his room.</p><p>And, of course, the goddess can’t be merciful, as he runs into – literally, runs directly into – Claude. The cocky alpha blinks in surprise, grinning brightly as he studies Lorenz. His nostrils flair as he takes in the scent that clings to Lorenz; he undoubtedly reeks of heat and sex and Sylvain. “Hey, you’re back early.” His voice is light, betraying nothing. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”</p><p>Lorenz stiffens, holding his head up. “I came back early as I was feeling ill.”</p><p>“And Sylvain and Felix came with you to make sure you made it back alright, huh?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Claude’s inscrutable green eyes soften. “You sure you’re okay? You can talk to me, you know.”</p><p>As if he would want to. He nearly snorts at the thought. <em>You should talk to him</em>. Though Lorenz’s memory of what happened is a little fuzzy, he realizes he must have said something that Sylvain found significant. “If you insist,” he says, surprising them both.</p><p>Claude is annoyingly close as they head to Lorenz’s room. The smell of his own belongings is a welcome comfort and he barely refrains from sinking into his bed when he remembers his clothes are quite disgusting. “Could I change before we speak?”</p><p>“Yeah, sure.” Claude waits politely outside the door, only returning when Lorenz calls him back. He sits on the edge of the bed next to Lorenz, unbearably close. “So, what’s up?”</p><p>Lorenz scowls at the floor. He doesn’t have to tell him the truth, but what was the point in hiding it when Claude could <em>smell</em> the truth on him. And, quite frankly, he’s tired of hiding. “I must admit something. I’ve been untruthful with yo- everyone.” Claude cocks his head to the side, leaning in even closer. “I’m not a beta, as I’ve pretended since coming to the Officers Academy. I’m an omega, and I’ve been taking suppressants to hide that fact.”</p><p>Claude is silent for a long moment before smiling softly. “I know.”</p><p>“Wha- how?”</p><p>“I saw you taking them one morning, and I got nosy and lifted them out of your jacket pocket during training.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.</p><p>Lorenz glares at him. “That’s despicable.”</p><p>“Oh, we both know I’ve done worse,” he jokes, rolling his eyes. And Lorenz can’t even deny it. “So, what changed? Why’d you decide to tell me now?” Lorenz feels like his breath is caught in his lungs. “Would it happen to have anything to do with you coming in reeking of Sylvain?”</p><p>He can feel his face heat, more so when Claude places a soft hand on his shoulder. In that moment, Lorenz breaks, a choked sob escaping. Claude is gentle as he pulls Lorenz to him, and Lorenz is helpless to do more than place his head on the alpha’s shoulder, breathing in the thick, spicy scent of him. “Shh,” he soothes as Lorenz hiccups. The soft press of his lips on his temple delights him as much as it terrifies him. “It’s okay.”</p><p>Lorenz lets himself be held.</p><p> </p><p>~OoO~</p><p> </p><p>It’s not unusual for Felix to be silent, to brood and glower at nothing in particular. This time feels different. Sylvain can feel his sadness and hurt deep in his soul, feels it like a knife between his ribs, rending his chest apart slowly. They curl up in Felix’s bed, holding each other tight.</p><p>All Sylvain can do is apologize over and over between feather-light kisses.</p><p>“What can I do to make this okay?” he asks desperately.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Felix admits. “I thought I could be okay with it, because it’s what needed to happen. But it hurts. Sylvain, it <em>hurts</em>.”</p><p>“I know, Fe,” he soothes. He sits up, pulling Felix into his lap. His mate curls into his chest, fingers fisted tight into his shirt as he nuzzles against neck. He still smells like Lorenz though they’ve changed clothes, smells of something light and floral like roses. Felix is unconsciously trying to mask the smell with his own.</p><p>“I… I feel like I used to,” he mutters against Sylvain’s skin. “When you used to sleep with anyone you could get in your bed, and I had to watch you flirting and touching them, had to smell their scent on you. Only, it’s worse, because you’re mine now.”</p><p><em>You’re mine now</em>. Even though that’s been true for moons (and maybe more than that, though it took Sylvain a while to realize it), the words still send his heart pounding with a white-hot fondness.</p><p>“I told you then, and I’ve told you so many times since then, Fe, you’re the only one for me.” Felix holds him tighter. “I don’t want anyone else. And… <em>that</em>, what happened, it just reminded me how true that is. I love you, Fe. More than I know what to do with.”</p><p>“I love you too.”</p><p>He runs his hand through Felix’s soft, silky hair. “More than I deserve.” With a tender hand, he tilts Felix’s chin up and claims his lips with a deep, slow kiss. He can feel Felix relax against him as their tongues tangle together.</p><p>They don’t make love that night, or any night for a while after that, content with affectionate touches and loving kisses, just being <em>together </em>as they process the emotions that press on them like weights. Slowly, things fall back to normal, they find peace and acceptance with the experience. They come through it together.</p><p>When they do make love again, it is a slow, tender, passionate thing that leaves them weak and breathless. Somehow, Sylvain realizes, he’s even more in love with Felix than ever, something he thought impossible. Somehow, everything is okay, in the end.</p>
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